The Future Of Celtic FC

everyone is entitled to their opinion on what is happening right now at celtic park and frustrating and annoying as this very moment seems, i ask if we can look at the bigger picture. Ok chances are this season we will end up with nothing and we can talk all day about whos fault it is and who we should sell. I do not believe that desire or hunger is the problem becuase in recent moths we have fought right until the final whistle and grab victories from the jaws of defeat.

In my opinion the problem this season (if you can call it that) lies with the youth and lack of experience of our side. Undoubtedly Strachan has bought for the future, the side we have before us will still be there in 4 or 5 years time, that would mean 5 years of playing together and gaining experinence together. As far as i can rememeber this is the youngest celtic team i have seen and with that comes a lack of experience, the ability of the team is unquestioned but i believe we will need another season to hit top form. In a few years time we will have a great nucleus of a team. I think only Nakamura and Hesselink are the only ones pushing 30 in the first eleven. The team is learning everyday and will improve in time. Brown McGeady Caldwell McManus will be at Celtic during thier peak years and the introduction of Mizuno and Hutchinson into the mix we will be looking good.

Before we had lennon,telfer,dublin,keane,hartson to add that neccessary peice of british experinence that is lacking in this team but it will come.

I draw to the man utd of a few years ago when ferguson bought rooney and ronaldo they were for the future and man utd went a think 3 seasons without winning anything but now it seems as if they will domianate in England again by buying neccessary experienced players and having a team that has played together for nearly 4 years.

I believe strachan will do this in the summer. The team will be a year older(this is his 3rd team) and he will add probably and expericed defender and midfielder, i believe George Boateng or someone of a similiar ilk will not be the worst signing in the world and will add his valuable experience. I would like to see an experienced italian defender in there.

The lack of this experience hasnt helped against the challenge from Rangers. I have no doubt in my mind that Rangers have put all their eggs in one basket to win the league this year, Davie Weir will be gone at the end of the season, Ferguson Darcheville McCulloch Hemdani will all be on the wrong side of thirty. Thsi was confimed by the loan signing of Dailly in January as he did with Ehigou last year. Davis on loan too whether he signs on is a different matter. It a patchwork team made up of old campaigners who know how to do it. The problem for Rangers will lie in the summer, Smith will need to build again, Darchville can barley finish a game, Cousin will be sold AGAIN!!. Smith is trying everything to see his side through the finish line, his auld team might see him through this year but what about next?? He might have 9 mill to spend from Hutton, but strachan should have the figure too plus a team that still has age on his side.

Would you sacrifice this league for another spell of sustained domaination in future leagues???

This is just my opinion, lets give it another year and then see what happens, me personally would have liked strachan to go for Johann Vogel that signed for blackburn today on a free just to sit in the midfield and tify up.

The league this year will have more twists and turns will two old firm games at Parkhead but the future is bright and will not certainly be o***ge

 

we shouldnt need to sacrafice the league for future domination, we where in such a strong posiotion over the summer and should of gotten experience aswel then, we should of been able to dominate each game nearly and not need so many last min goals

 

i think if we could retain the keague this year then it would take the huns years to recover
unfortunetly.........

 

I dont buy into this building a team for the future nonsense. Strachans has been too busy trying to turn us into an Ajax setup. He has had an easy 2 years in the SPL and carried his luck to an extent in the CL. To beat the huns we need to be bigger, stronger and hungrier. He has built a team which is neither.

I think Walter Smith has shown in his last spell and MON has shown is that you need a team of bullies to win! Hate to say it but there is not a hope in * of us winning at Ibrox because they are going to have McCulloch going up with elbows, Cuellar and Weir pulling at jerseys, Ferguson brushing Donati aside.

The huns wont have problems next year cos Smith will always find a cheap short term fix from somewhere. We are the ones with problems.

That team needs rebuilding and Strachan has made too many dud signings. Whose to say they would get any better in the summer?

I think Strachan will most probably walk at the end of next season, so why not part with him just now and let the next man come in and bring in his players with a vision for the next 5 or 6 years?

 

if the huns win this year i think it will take us a few years and a new manager to get back on top again so signing young players now wont make a difference if rangers start attracting big names again. the young players we could sign would not be on a par with rooney and ronaldo

 

i agree with a lot a things that have been said ,about building for the future etc ,but celtic have been the dominate force over the last few years and to start from scratch during the dominance weve had is to much of a non starter ,yes add to the team ,but not a full overhaul ,it wasnt needed, theres plenty of young players allready there and bye all accounts the reserves are full of good young players ,there has been a lot of money invested and wasted at the same time, you dont play about with players positionon during the season ,and make the game harder for the players as gs has been doing ,hes been there long enough im sure that he should know his players and bye now should know his strongest team , i admired gs at the start i knew he was going to get pelters from all angles ,he has done a good job up until recently and now his tactical game is nowere to be seen ,he now is under pressure for the first time and i believe its his own doing ,rangers are not a good team the havent caught up with celtic ,its celtic who have dropped down to theres ,there is a lot of talent in celtic ,but wanting the fans to wait 3-4-5 years for a team to mature ,the celtic support and the huns support couldnt wait that long

 

i think walter would use the 9 mil plus what he gets in the summer much more wisesly! i have givin up on wgs signings. out of the 35 or so players he has brought in, how many of them can you say has been a success! it seems to me that the money which has been spent (av lost count on how many millions) and waisted on players is alittle like russion roulette. surely 1 decent player will come out shortly!

 

In the summer strachan knew perfectly well where he was to strengthen and he didnt do it he also said inoctober that what celtic needed was an experienced player did he buy an experienced player in in january no. i think the strikers are not good enough i wont argue with skippys record but i cant think of a goal that he has scored this season where ive thought where did he pull that one out the bag where before celtic were spoiled with hartson sutton larsson pulling goals out of nowhere. the defence is shocking aswell and the midfield im not goin to even start on that. I think strachan has made this team into a very average team and this has to be the worst team that i can remember of, i just cant believe that we are going to lose the league to a rangers side who aren't in any great shapes aswell it's shocking and something needs to be done.

 

Some great points in this thread and good to see a degree of honesty in some comments.

I agree that if Rangers dont win the league this year then it will put us well ahead again, you can see in their play how determined they are because they know it too.

I disagree however with the point about rangers having an old team. Ok they have been using a few older players but there is essentially a nucleus of younger players on the fringes- Boyd, Naismith, Thomson, Adam, Burke, Magregor, Davis, Broadfoot, Smith, Whittaker.

All those guys are very young and then they have the bulk of that under 19's side to come through - Fleck etc.

It would be foolish to overlook the fact that Walter smith has actually already got his future side there and will just i presume keep on topping it up with the odd experienced player.

We need to focus on what we are going to do, but do so without underestimating the opposition. If we can fill a few weak positions then we will be strong enough to over take them again.